ROEDING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



21 



PRUNING 



Instructions about pruning given for the plum will 

 serve equally as well for the prune. 



GATHERING AND DRYING 



The prune should never be picked until it is fully 

 ripe. This is indicated when it is soft to the touch. 

 The trees are shaken slightly, although with many 

 growers it is customary to make a number of pickings 

 during the season from time to time as the fruits drop 

 to the ground. Unless the prune is dead ripe, it makes 

 an inferior dried article. The first step in curing is to 

 dip the prunes in boiling water in which lye has been 

 dissolved, using one pound of lye to ten gallons of water. 

 It is very important to maintain the temperature of the 

 water at at least 200 degrees Fahrenheit, if the best 

 results are to be obtained. The purpose of this dipping 

 is to crack the skin to facilitate drying. As a rule the 

 fruit is immersed for about a minute but this may be 



The owner of this three-year-old French Prune orchard 

 does not agree with me in my recommendations of 

 pruning. 



But this man does. The reader must draw his own conclu- 

 sions as to which plan is preferable. 



varied, and final experience is the best teacher as to 

 the strength of the lye solution and the length of time 

 of dipping. Carelessness in dipping, that is, not having 

 the water to the boiling point, causes fermentation in 

 prunes, which are. termed "bloaters." The Imperial 

 Epineuse is very much subject to this trouble. Mr. 

 C. F. Fleming, manager of one of the prune packing 

 plants of the California Packing Corporation in San 

 Jose, claims that by allowing the prunes of this variety to 

 remain on the trays for two or three days until wilted, 

 before dipping, much of this difficulty will be overcome. 

 After the prunes are dipped in the solution, they are then 

 rinsed off in cold water to remove all traces of the lye. 

 There are a number of processing machines on the mar- 

 ket devised for handling prunes. These are either 

 operated by hand or by power, depending on the 

 quantity of fruit to be handled. From the dipper the 

 prunes are transferred to trays, which are three feet 

 wide, eight feet long, with a two-inch cleat all around, 

 made of one-inch lumber to prevent the prunes from 

 rolling off. The drying is carried on in the open, the 

 desiccating of the fruit being due entirely to the rays 

 of the sun. It is very important to stir the prunes on 

 the trays to prevent them from sticking. This causes 

 them to dry uniformly. Clean trays play a very im- 

 portant part in preventing mold and the loss of the 

 prunes in event of wet and sultry weather. There is a 

 tendency on the part of beginners to over-dry, exhaust- 

 ing all the juices of the fruit, by too long exposure to the 

 sun. Take a handful of prunes in the morning before 

 they have been warmed up by the sun, and if, after 



